What Fran's Reading: Drama on an island, retirement by the sea

Meg Little Reilly has penned a tense, thought-provoking drama in "Everything That Follows" (Mira Books, 320 pp., $15.99 paperback). It's set on Martha's Vineyard, which will have particular appeal to anyone who has vacationed there,

Mira Books

but in fact it could be on any east coast resort island.

It is autumn and tourists mostly have departed, so a group of young resident islanders have convened at their favorite bar. Kat, a glass artist, is celebrating the sale of a large and profitable creation.

When the bar closes, Kat's longtime friend Hunter invites her to go for a short sail on his boat. They invite Kyle, whom they've just met, and the fairly inebriated trio heads for the dock.

Kat and Hunter are mystified. Neither sensed Kyle had been pushed hard enough to catapult into the water. But as they watch where he fell, he doesn't surface.

Kat wants to notify the police immediately. Hunter, who has a history of heavy drinking and screw ups, insists they can't. He fears the publicity could cost his father his upcoming congressional election. He also persuades Kat that, if the worst has happened, they will be charged because they're clearly drunk.

Now you have clarification for the title, and that's all I'll give you. Everything that follows is the rest of the story, and I wouldn't dream of spoiling this riveting, fast-paced read.

On to coastal Maine, the setting for Terri-Lynn DeFino's debut novel, "The Bar Harbor Home for Famous Writers (and Their Muses)" (William Morrow, 320 pp., $15.99 paperback).

The title specified the eligibility for retiring there. The place was established for

William Morrow Paperback

aging and infirm writers, a number of whom are famous. But none more than Alfonse Carducci, whose meteoric career as a novelist made him a household name. Now Alfonse has come to Bar Harbor to die. A life of excess has caught up with him, and failing health is the price. Aside from his physical impairments, he also is suffering from writer's block.

Alphonse isn't there long before he runs into Olivia Peppernell, one of his former lovers and a celebrated novelist in her own right. Olivia is also unwell, and treats her pain with daily joints - a fact well known by the staff.

Sensing Alphonse's depression, Olivia proposes that they collaborate on a novel, trading off the manuscript after each chapter. They begin to fill a leather-covered notebook with chapters, all written in longhand. After a while their friend Judi, a famous editor they've known for years (another of Alphonse's former lovers) figures out what they're up to and persuades them to let her edit their work as it proceeds. When they hit a snag, Stitch, yet another longtime writer-friend, has figured out what they're up to and begs Olivia to let him read the book -- just to offer suggestions. But Stitch gets so absorbed by the story that he gets them out of their dead end by writing another chapter.

Meanwhile, Cecibel, a young aide at the home with secrets of her own, befriends Alphonse, and she, too, starts making story suggestions.

Before long, the chapters of DeFino's story are interspersed with chapters from the writing project. Consequently, the reader ends up reading not only the novel, but the developing fiction the trio of retired writers is penning. Granted, not a unique literary device, but it's one DeFino handles admirably. Enough so that the reader becomes equally invested in the novel within the novel.

DeFino has written a lovely first novel filled with love, loss, regret, reflection and the restorative discovery that life, even in its final stages, always has fresh revelations to offer.

Fran Wood, retired op-ed columnist and former books editor for The Star-Ledger, blogs at nj.com.